Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

With the help of the people of the capital who loved to watch the fun, the "thief" was taken all the way to Jingzhao Prefecture, and he didn't even have a chance to refute.
When the prefect of Jingzhao saw Fu Yi's figure in the crowd, he had a bad feeling. Could this matter be related to his niece?
"Sir." Fu Yi took three steps forward, bowed to the Jingzhao Yin as a junior, and began to denounce the thief's hateful behavior and express her gratitude to the people who helped her.
The people who were crowded at the gate of the yamen watching the excitement nodded repeatedly, yes, yes, they are so kind and just.

"Sir, I am a scholar and would never do such sneaky things." The counselor didn't know how much Yun Fuyi knew about him, and just wanted to get away immediately and find a chance to leave the capital: "There must be a misunderstanding in this matter, please look into it carefully."

"Such a large bag of silver fell out of your sleeve. Could it be a misunderstanding?"
"If it weren't for the little girl's cleverness, you would have run away with the silver."
"Yes, we all saw it. The silver clearly fell from your body."

If it was just a small purse, perhaps not many people would notice it, but it was a whole bag of silver, so much that the purse could not hold it. Who wouldn't take a second look?

"I am handling a case in the court. Please keep quiet, fellow villagers." Jingzhao Yin calmed down the chattering people outside the court and continued to ask the counselor kneeling on the ground: "Where are you from and where do you live?"

"I am not from the capital." The counselor looked like an honest scholar. "Because I failed the imperial examinations many times, I came to the capital to seek a way to make a living. Now I am a manager in the villa of Marquis Gongping."
The strategist glanced at Yun Fuyi covertly, hoping that his words could dispel her doubts.

Marquis Gongping fell into poverty, and the manor under his name could no longer be managed by people arranged by the Palace Department as before, so he had to hire people from outside.

"You are the manager of the villa of Marquis Gongping. What does it have to do with you stealing purses because you are blinded by money?" Xia Yu asked, "In the past month or so, you have often appeared in East Street disguised as a vegetable farmer or a peddler. Is this also what the manager of the villa does?"

The counselor's eyes changed slightly. He thought he had hidden it well, but he didn't expect to be discovered by this maid.

Jingzhao Yin had been an official for many years. After hearing Xia Yu's words, he immediately realized that this matter was not simple. He looked at the middle-aged man kneeling in the hall calmly.
His skin was smooth, his teeth neat, his hands clean, he looked as if he had never been exposed to the sun, and he was very particular about his diet.
Such a person does not seem like the manager of the farm, but more like someone being served.

"I don't understand what the young lady is saying." The counselor pretended to be angry: "It's fine if you falsely accuse me of stealing, but you have to wrongly accuse me like this? I see that the young lady is well-dressed, and your young lady is even more extraordinary. She must be a person of noble status. Are you going to take advantage of your power and force her to confess?"

"Why are you so anxious? We haven't said anything yet." Xia Yu knew that he wanted to portray himself as a weak person, and the people watching the excitement outside would think that they were using their power to bully others. Unfortunately, this method was far inferior to what they had seen in Chongzhou.

When the master was an official in Chongzhou, they had seen all kinds of weird and dishonest tactics, and it was really easy to deal with them with just a few harmless words from the counselor.

"There are so many people on the street. If my daughter is really a bully, why has she never bullied others?" Xia Yu retorted: "You should look for the reasons in yourself. Don't steal things and then blame others."

"Sir, I am willing to testify for this girl." A woman carrying a flower basket mustered up her courage and squeezed out of the crowd: "This girl is a good person. A few months ago, I was molested by someone, and it was this girl who saved me and sent me home."
This was the flower girl that Fu Yi rescued after beating up Wang Yanhe and others on the night of the Lantern Festival.

"Sir, I can testify that some time ago, an official drove us away from the pear blossom forest and frightened my daughter to tears. It was this girl who helped us get justice."

The Jingzhao Yin had some impression of this incident. Lu Tanhua, who drove away the people, was finally stripped of his honors by His Majesty and sent back to his hometown in Lingbei.

When the counselor saw this, he thought to himself that this was not good. Yun Fuyi was obviously a famous playboy, so how could there be common people standing up to speak for her? Could they be people she hired?

He was used to conspiracies and intrigues, and was even more used to giving advice to others behind their backs. He never thought that someone would directly send him to Jingzhao Prefecture for the ridiculous reason of theft.

Several people came forward to testify for Fu Yi. Jingzhao Yin looked at Fu Yi with a very gentle look. He knocked on the gavel and said to the counselor in a stern voice: "Have you committed the crime of theft? Why don't you confess it quickly?"

According to the Dalong law, thieves were punished with 20 strokes of the cane. If they admitted it, they would be beaten, but if they didn't admit it, the counselors were afraid that it would involve more things.
Sweat broke out on his forehead, and he only hoped that King Ning would discover this as soon as possible and arrange someone to rescue him.

Thinking of this, the counselor gritted his teeth and continued to defend himself, hoping to delay until King Ning's men arrived.

Fu Yi smiled and let him delay time, not being in a hurry at all.
Want Prince Ning to save him?
"My lord, something happened."
When King Ning heard the word "accident", his head hurt. He put down his teacup and said calmly, "What happened again?"

"Mr. Yuan was arrested?"

"What?!" King Ning thought there was something wrong with his ears: "Why was Mr. Yuan arrested?"

"Mr. Yuan had just walked out of the teahouse and was taken to Jingzhao Prefecture."

King Ning took a deep breath and looked at the messenger: "What is the reason for arresting him?"

"Stealing from other people's pockets."

King Ning was almost amused by this absurd excuse: "Stealing a purse? Mr. Yuan is very resourceful, how could he steal someone's purse? Who is so bold as to wrongly accuse him?"

"Yes... yes... Miss Yun."

"Yun Fuyi." King Ning was stunned for a moment, but he was not surprised. He smiled bitterly and said, "She has been smart since she was young. I'm afraid she has already discovered that Mr. Yuan is my man."

Fu Yi always does things unexpectedly, and he should have expected that she would not let him go so easily.

"Your Majesty, how can we rescue Mr. Yuan?"

Prince Ning looked at the tea leaves floating in the cup and was silent for a long time. He said, "The person who was arrested is the manager of the manor of the Marquis Gongping's mansion. Let the Marquis Gongping handle it."

He knew Yun Fuyi. She had brought Mr. Yuan to Jingzhao Prefecture just to lure him into taking action.
The Yun family is highly valued by the emperor, and Fu Yi has also won the favor of the queen. He cannot afford to take the risk.

"Mr. Wan Yiyuan..."
"Don't worry, he would rather die than betray me."

Sui Xun, who had been cowardly for two years, heard that the manager of his own villa had stolen Yun Fuyi's purse. He did not even dare to show his face and directly asked the Jingzhao Prefecture to handle the matter impartially.

After the counselor was dragged away and beaten with twenty boards, Fu Yi came to the side room, looked at him lying on the ground without any image, bent down and squatted down: "Are you waiting for Sui Ruijing to save you?"
"I don't understand what the young lady said." The counselor was shaking with pain. "The moment I found you, you were already abandoned." Fu Yi laughed, "He won't come to save you, and you can't even think about leaving the Jingzhao prison."

The strategist shuddered, he knew that what Yun Fuyi said was true and King Ning might not come to save him.
“If you want to achieve great things, you must know how to let go.” This was the principle he once taught King Ning, but now he was the one being let go.

"No matter what you say, it's useless. I don't know any King Ning."

"It doesn't matter whether you admit it or not, as long as I think you know him." Fu Yi felt uncomfortable squatting, so she simply sat down cross-legged: "I am a playboy, and I do things irrationally."

"The county lord does have some self-awareness."

"Thank you for the compliment." Fu Yi smiled instead of getting angry. She was in a very good mood and said, "You appeared in the capital after Sui Ruijing was demoted to a prince, and you were trusted by him. Sui Ruijing is not the type to trust others easily, so what made him use you as soon as he met you?"

The strategist closed his eyes and said nothing, nor did he look at Fu Yi.

"A few days ago, a foreign merchant moved in near the house where you live. This merchant has three daughters, but they wear veils and never go out." Fu Yi gently tapped her chin: "I guess these three girls must be as beautiful as flowers, and their beauty is not inferior to that of Concubine Zeng."

The counselor's eyes trembled, and when he opened them again, his expression was extremely cold: "What exactly does Miss Yun want to say?"

"Are you anxious?" Fu Yi raised her eyebrows slightly and lowered her voice, "But when I saw the beauties, I thought of the famous honey trap, so I will go visit these three beauties later."

"I'm afraid that you will go too late and end up with nothing." The counselor stared at Fu Yi and said, "Aren't you afraid of attracting a fatal disaster by doing this?"

"I am lucky, I am not afraid." Fu Yi stood up and patted her skirt. "Oh, you don't have to worry about the three beauties passing by me. I am a domineering and unreasonable person, so I arranged for someone to keep them at home before dawn today."

"You act like this, don't you care about your reputation at all?" The counselor really couldn't understand why a woman would act so disrespectfully. Isn't she afraid that no one would dare to marry her?

"Why do I need a decent reputation?" Fu Yi smiled with curved eyebrows: "Thank you for telling me, there is indeed something wrong with those three women."

After saying this, he turned and left without waiting for the counselor to speak.

Looking at Yun Fuyi's departing back, the strategist was anxious but helpless.
I hope the master will pay attention to Yun Fuyi and not keep her any longer.

"Miss, why don't you continue to torture this man?"

"It's useless. This kind of person would rather die than confess anything useful." Fu Yi said indifferently: "He is more useful alive than dead."

"Miss, may I ask where Caiyinfang should go?"
A young man walked over, followed by two guards. The clothes they were wearing did not look like the style of the Dalong people.

"Sir, this is near Jingzhao Prefecture, there won't be any places for fun." Fu Yi saw the embarrassed expression on the young man's face and smiled: "Turn left in front, and it will take another half an hour to get there."

"Thank you, beautiful girl." The young man performed a foreign salute. Fu Yi knew that this was the etiquette of the Nanxu Kingdom.
The ceremony of enthroning the crown prince is approaching, envoys from various countries have arrived in Beijing, and there are more and more foreigners on the streets.

"You're welcome." Fu Yi said goodbye to this person and hurried to meet the three merchant daughters who never showed up.

They are indeed rare beauties. One is as gorgeous as peach blossoms, one is as cool as the crescent moon, and the other is gentle, beautiful and amiable.

"Fuyi, their so-called businessman father has already escaped." Lin Xiaowu sighed, "Their identities are unknown. Should we report to the police or..."

These three beauties with different styles reminded Fu Yi of someone again, Prince Ning’s mother, Concubine Zeng.
In them, she saw the shadow of Concubine Zeng.
If Imperial Concubine Zeng was also using the beauty trap against the late emperor, then the mastermind behind this was after the entire Dalong Dynasty?

Prince Ning, counselors, beauty trap, Concubine Zeng...

What a change of soup but the same medicine. Fu Yi grabbed Lin Xiaowu's hand and said, "Xiaowu, I want to hand in my badge to enter the palace."

She is still a little girl, and anything she can't solve has to be left to adults.

What use is there in something like a beauty trap, as long as the person involved is determined?

It’s all the fault of the late emperor, Old Deng, who was so useless.

If he had been a wise ruler, the treasury of Dalong would not have been so empty that even rats passing by would have to drop two grains of rice before leaving.

When Sui Tingheng heard that Fu Yi had come to the palace to ask to see his mother, he took a box of tea from the shelf and said to Lu Taifu, "Mr. Lu, I recently got a box of scented tea and wanted to send it to my mother to try. You should go back and rest early and don't get tired."

"Yes, Your Highness." Tutor Lu was deeply touched. Why did Your Highness need to deliver the tea in person? It was obvious that His Highness the Crown Prince was worried that he had been ill a few days ago and wanted him to rest more, so he found a reason to let him go back early.

Sui Tingheng hurried to the gate of Zhaoyang Palace, and heard his mother say with a smile: "In my opinion, Heng'er may like that beautiful woman who is as cold as the moon and has talent."

Sui Tingheng's face changed when he heard this. When did he say that he liked this kind of woman? How could his mother defame his innocence in front of Fu Yi?

(End of this chapter)